Friday, 16 May 2008

There is nothing better than the post man delivering a package from Amazon with new and exciting cookbooks. This morning I was the lucky recipient of such a package, after my latest instalment of Amazon late night shopping! One of the books I received is Bars & Squares more than 200 recipes by Jill Snider and where I found this great recipe. The book is packed full of recipe after recipe of amazing sweet delights, it is definitely a book that will encourage you to get in the kitchen and bake. I have already seen so many recipes that I want to try but this recipe really caught my attention, blondies with apples just sounded amazing and brown sugar frosting!! Who could resist? I am sure they are going to be a big hit in our home.

Apple Blondies with Brown Sugar Frosting

Blondies:

2/3 cup butter, softened

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup chopped peeled apples

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (i did not add nuts)

1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Brown Sugar Frosting:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup milk or cream

2 cups confectioner's sugar

Blondies:

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until thick and smooth, about 3 minutes. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture on low speed, mixing until blended. Stir in apples, cinnamon and nuts, mixing well. Spread evenly in greased 9x13 pan.Bake in Preheated oven at 350 degrees until set and golden, 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on rack.

Brown Sugar Frosting:

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and milk. Bring mixture just to a boil then remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm. Stir in the confectioner's sugar, mixing until smooth. Spread evenly over bar. Let stand until frosting is firm enough to cut. Cut into bars or squares.

28 comments:

Maria I cannot agree more about "there is nothing better than the post man delivering a package from Amazon" - my partner in crime ;)

On to your scrummy looking Blondies, they look SO gorgeous with that decedent brown sugar frosting on top, what a dream it would be to sink my teeth into one of these little darlings!! Great bake sweetie :)

i'm 100% sure the bars are delicious, but that frosting. my, oh my, that frosting. i would be the girl going after the corner pieces, hoping that the frosting pooled up and was a little bit thicker there. :)

I definitely agree with you Maria, there is nothing better than receiving a package from Amazon! Thank you for posting this gorgeous recipe, I will definitley be trying this one. :) How much cinnamon is in the blondies? xxx

Those bars look fabulous. I don't care for apples, but this looks like a great recipe for a bar, generally, and the brown sugar frosting recipe would put it on my "must east" list. That frosting is worth the post all by itself! Can you imagine brown sugar frosting on a pumpkin bar or spice bar? Oooh, or OATMEAL BARS! Oh my, the ideas.

Amazon....did somebody say Amazon -oh goodness - you hit my soft spot - nothing like buying cookbooks at 3 a.m. and two days later when they arrive you say to yourself "what was I thinking"...do I need yet another cookbook - oh well, who cares - it's home decorating.

is it possible to bake the brownies and keep the frosting in a container on the side? that way people would add the frosting as they'd like. OR does the frosting harden on top of the brownies? a few bloggers that baked these mentioned that the frosting is very sweet.

also, do you have a recipe for apple loaf that you could suggest? i want to do an apple loaf w/maple vanilla cream cheese frosting and i wonder if you have a rec.

I think it would be ok to make the Blondies and add the frosting as and when you liked. If I remember the frosting doesn't harden up to the extent that you can not spread it, so it should be fine!

Regarding an apple loaf I don't have any recipes that only include apple but I have just submitted a wonderful apple cake recipe on my other blog that is gorgeous and would be delicious with that maple vanilla cream cheese frosting! Wow all the wonderful flavours of autumn in one cake.

Here is the link:http://sweetsimplebakesrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/09/vanilla-apple-cake.html

thx so much for the reply! i can't believe you have two blogs - i can't wait to browse the other one.

i'm trying the blondies tonight and i'll let you know how it goes!

i like the sound of that cake but last week i made a similiar version (from cooking light) and i'm looking for more of a quick bread/loaf this week - similar to your banana apple loaf on this site. "the joy of baking" has a zucchini bread with cream cheese frosting and i am planning on substituting the zucchini and applesauce for 1 1/2c of apples. would you take a look at the recipe and tell me what you think and if i need to alter anything else in the recipe to adapt to the inclusion of more apples: http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/ZucchiniBread.html I might add some cinnamon and spice.

oh! one more thing maria - do you have any tips on how to keep the brownie very neat? i remember makign the millionaire shortbreads once and finding it very difficult to keep the edges of caramel very clean (and professional looking!)

This recipe was great, thank you! I made these for Christmas dinner as part of a cookie and bar tray, and they went over well with adults and kids alike. I omitted the frosting to prevent mess, and I'm glad I did because the bars on their own were plenty sweet. The brown sugar was really the trick here. Everyone kept saying they tasted like caramel or toffee, I said it's all the brown sugar, baby!

About Me

Hello and Welcome to The Goddess's Kitchen!
My name is Maria and reside in Surrey, UK. I'm a full time domestic goddess (thanks to my hard working hubby), wife and mother (I love my work). I'm also a nannie to my beautiful grandson called Ollie, who I just love to bits! My other babies are my 2 beautiful but spoilt kitties, Madison and Coco. My passion is cooking and baking and my kitchen is my sanctuary. I love being able to share my love and joy of food with my family, friends and fellow foodie bloggers. I confess to having a "slight" amazon addiction and love to browse and buy beautiful cookbooks and own over 200 cookbooks, a collection which grows regularly!